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New York City, New York

What is there to do in New York?

Best Clubs/Bars in New York?

Where to stay in New York?

Meatpacking District

Is a great place to stay for the nightlife. It's a young neighborhood filled both straight and gay clubs. You'll find endless options for dining!

Theater District

is a great neighborhood for first-time visitors. You'll find the greatest variety of affordable lodging choices in the Theater District. This area can get a little crowded because but you'll be right near the heart of everything. The Theater District is roughly 42nd Street to 50th Street west of Sixth Avenue.

Midtown

is the heart of New York shopping and home to some of its most iconic buildings. Midtown is where you need to be if you're here for the sightseeing. Everything is within walking distance but be prepared to spend a few $$$ on hotels here!

Tribeca & SoHo

If you're coming to New York for the food, you'll want to stay in either one of these neighborhoods. Both areas are great for affordable/high-end shopping as well!

Upper West Side

Is a great neighborhood for families. You'll find the children’s museum and the American Museum of Natural History here. The area is pretty quiet and less busy with playgrounds for the kids! Many hotels here offer family accommodations and offers two major subway lines to get around.

Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Little Italy

These old ethnic neighborhoods are one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city! Here you'll find many cool shops, clubs, and restaurants. These neighborhoods are the hustle and bustle of the city. In Chinatown, you'll find everything and anything you'll ever need from the knockoffs to the real deal.

Downtown Brooklyn(Dumbo)

Staying in downtown Brooklyn can be a little costly. Here you'll be close to the Brooklyn Bridge with high-end hotels/restaurants.

Chelsea

Chelsea has dozens of art galleries. Here you'll find the Hige Line Park on a former rail line running from 13th to 34th streets. Chelsea also has a bunch of high-end clubbing and dining.

How to get to your destination from the airport?

Taxi

From JFK: $52-$60USD Flat rate.

From LGA: $29-$37USD metered fare, plus bridge and tunnel tolls and gratuity.

From Newark Airport: $55-65 USD metered fare. Duration: 40-60 minutes to Penn Station

Airtrain

From JFK ($5USD) Single subway ride ($2.75USD) = $7.75USD in total Duration: 60-75 minutes to Penn Station

Laguardia Airport Shuttle

$1USD one-way, $28USD round-trip, runs from 06:00-23:30, every 30 minutes, WiFi on board.

Duration: 60 minutes to Penn Station

Bus + Train

From LGA $2.75USD – Free transfer from bus to train with MetroCard. Option 1: The Q70 bus goes non-stop to 61st/Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, where you can connect with five different subway lines, or you can connect to LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) for +$5USD to Penn Station. Both options are about 60 minutes. Option 2: The M60 bus goes to Harlem and connects to all the major subway lines in Manhattan.

From Newark Airport:

Train: $18.50 USD Airtrain Newark ($5.50USD)+ NJ Transit Rail ($13USD) (Northeast Corridor or North Jersey Coast Line) to Penn Station. Duration: 30-40 minutes to Penn Station

Bus: $16USD One-Way, $28 USD Roundtrip, Newark Airport Express, leaves every 15 minutes. Duration: 40-50 minutes to Penn Station

Uber or Lyft

Ride-share apps are normally cheaper than metered taxi depending on the time you are leaving and returning to the airport.

New to Uber? Sign up and get $5 off your first ride on me!

New to Lyft? Sign up and get $5 off your first ride on me!

How to get around New York?

My favorite app or online help to get around the city is CityMapper! Download this app to get around! Citymapper is an app I use on A daily basis to get around the city(New York) for real-time departures for public transportation and gives you endless options on how to get there. Citymapper will tell you how to get to point A to B from a subway, bus, rail, ferry, bike, car/car sharing, and Uber! All you have to do is decide which option you want to take to get to point B! Not only is Citymapper available for New York City but also other major cities in countries such as the USA/Canada, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin American. This app definitely helps me save on taxi rides and helps me travel around town like a local for less!

On Foot

its cheaper and FREE! Most times its actually quicker to get around the city by walking.

Taxis

are very expensive but they get you where you need to be. Just be careful going long distance or rush hour. All yellow taxis operate by the meter! You can hail a taxi just by waving it down on the street. When getting in a taxi make sure you look for an official NYC taxi blue tag in the window of the car if is not a yellow cab. There are many black taxis that offer rides with out an official taxi tag which is illegal!

MTA(Subway)

If you can't walk to your destination, the transit is the next-best way to get around.

You'll be able to purchase a MTA at a office box at the train or at a MTA self booth at the train station. There is a $1.00USD "new card fee" when getting a MTA card.

One way Subway ticket cost $2.75USD

7-Day Unlimited Pass Cost: $33.00USD

30-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard Cost: $127.00USD

Bike

Those rows of blue bicycles you see docked around the city are Citi Bikes. A day pass costs $12, and a three-day pass costs $24. They’re meant for quick trips: Once you’ve unlocked a bike, you have 30 minutes before you need to dock it again, at any location, otherwise you’ll get charged extra $4 for each additional 15 minutes.

Rent a Car

You can rent a car but in my option, there is no need when you have a ton of public transportation options! Even if you plan to stay in the outer boroughs of New York its best to take the subway to the city. There's not much parking in the city and if you do find any street parking costs $3.75USD per hour.

BEWARE that most street parking Monday through Friday is for commercial parking vehicles ONLY!

New York City police will not hesitate to tow or ticket your vehicle!

If you drive to the city on a Sunday street parking is free.

If you do drive to the city and want to park in a garage google parking garages in advance to get a discounted fare and purchase your spot online or be prepared to pay $20-30USD per hour.

Rideshare apps in NY

Ride-share apps are normally cheaper than metered taxi in the city!

Via

New to VIA? Sign up and get $10 off your first ride & get $10 for yourself! Use my Code: JESSICA5G6Z

Uber

New to Uber? Sign up and get $5 off your first ride on me!

Lyft

New to Lyft? Sign up and get $5 off your first ride on me!

When to travel to New York?

You can visit New York City all year round! New York is the City that never sleeps so there's always an event and fun to experience in all four seasons!

I personally love NY in the summer because of the many rooftop bars/pools with views but for tourists that want to explore the city on foot walking the long blocks of NY may experience that beating sun and skyrocket prices for accommodation and crowds.

If you want to Travel to New York or a budget and avoid the heat try to visit during Spring or Fall.

The winter season is the Holiday season and boy is it a jolly time to be in the city! It's quite expensive during this time even for New Yorkers to go out and enjoy the holidays but it's so worth the cheer!

Where to eat in New York?

Year round rooftop bars

Ice Cream

Game Rooms bars/cafes

Harlem bars/restaurants

Upscale/Famous Restaurants

More Good eats...

Holidays in New York?

Click the link for "Must Holiday Events to do in New York City."

What language is spoken in New York?

English.

Currency?

United States Dollars (USD$)

Things you should know when traveling to New York?

  • New York City has 5 boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

  • Panhandling on NYC streets is not against the law with or without children, though all panhandling is illegal in the subway system. Expect to see beggars on the street and in the subway.

  • Expect to see homeless people in the streets and the subway in the city. Beware that some of these beggars are con artist and may not really be homeless.

  • Try to avoid going into empty subway carts when riding the trains to avoid robberies.

  • If you ate at a new restaurant every day for 12 years, you still wouldn’t have visited all of New York’s eateries.

  • If Brooklyn were its own city, it would be the fourth-most populous in the country.

  • In New York, when someone says “downtown,” downtown means “in a southerly direction” or one of the neighborhoods below 14th street.

  • “Midtown” means the neighborhoods in the middle section of Manhattan, between 14th Street and 59th Street.

  • Anything past 59th street and past Central Park is considered Uptown.

  • Fifth Avenue is the dividing line between what New Yorkers call “east side” and “west side.”

  • Midtown between 34th and 59th streets, where many famous sights are found, is less than a mile and a half long and easily walkable.

Is New York kid-friendly? Things to do with kids?

Free times to visit NYC Museums or suggested admission

"The only thing that will make you happy is being happy with who your are, and not who people think you are."

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